Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ATAM is a Division of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program

At the height of Egyptian mummification during the 10th c. B.C., mummies underwent elaborate procedures to preserve tissues and organs for the afterlife. Internal organs (intestines, liver, lungs, and stomach) were removed through a slit in the abdomen, treated with salts and resins, and placed in Canopic jars or in separate bundles to be buried with the mummy. The brain was often extracted using a metal hook through the nose bone. The heart, the seat of the Egyptian spirit, was not usually disturbed. The body was dehydrated with natron salts, washed and purified with wine, honey, pine resins, and other materials, and carefully wrapped with many layers of cloth. Fingernail covers, amulets, and jewelry were included in the wrappings for wealthy and important patrons.

By contrast, in the Roman period, most people were embalmed with less attention to the preservation of organs and tissues and more attention to external wrappings. Roman-period mummies had elaborate criss-cross or layered wraps, decorated with Egyptian gods in colored pigments and gold gilt and Roman face portraits. Internal organs were often left in place. Consequently, many mummies of this period show poor tissue preservation and insect damage.

The University of Illinois mummy proved to be a typical embalming job for its period, with organs left in the body and large quantities of resin used. Its closest parallel is the mummy of a child studied at the University of Pennsylvania (PUM IV).

CT scans of our mummy revealed a "stiffening board," identified by an African woods specialist as African cedar. This board was carbon-dated by the Illinois State Geological Survey to about 190 B.C. Although this date is earlier than the stylistic date of the wrappings (early 2nd century A.D.), it can be explained by the fact that the wood belonged to a tree which was older than the board, and by the use of bitumen (a petroleum derivative) in the embalming fluids. The bitumen and coniferous pine resins in the embalming fluids were identified by the university's Department of Chemistry using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and fast-atom bombardment (FAB) tandem MS. The wooden board was revealed by computer imaging at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). It appears to have been deliberately shaped to fit the contours of the child's body.

Copyright 1999. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.